Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection
A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by t...
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ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/100773 2023-06-11T04:16:48+02:00 Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection Polar vortex formation in giant-planet atmospheres due to moist convection O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard 2014-12 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 en_US eng Nature Publishing Group http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2459 Nature Geoscience 1752-0894 1752-0908 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 O’Neill, Morgan E, Kerry A. Emanuel, and Glenn R. Flierl. “Polar Vortex Formation in Giant-Planet Atmospheres Due to Moist Convection.” Nature Geosci 8, no. 7 (June 15, 2015): 523–526. orcid:0000-0003-3589-5249 orcid:0000-0002-2066-2082 Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ O'Neill Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2014 ftmit https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2459 2023-05-29T08:22:47Z A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by the 2016 Juno mission. Energetic, small-scale storm-like features that originate from the water-cloud level or lower have been observed on each of the giant planets and attributed to moist convection, suggesting that these storms play a significant role in global heat transfer from the hot interior to space. Nevertheless, the creation and maintenance of Saturn’s polar vortices, and their presence or absence on the other giant planets, are not understood. Here we use simulations with a shallow-water model to show that storm generation, driven by moist convection, can create a strong polar cyclone throughout the depth of a planet’s troposphere. We find that the type of shallow polar flow that occurs on a giant planet can be described by the size ratio of small eddies to the planetary radius and the energy density of its atmosphere due to latent heating from moist convection. We suggest that the observed difference in these parameters between Saturn and Jupiter may preclude a Jovian polar cyclone. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM-0850639) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1032244) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1136480) United States. Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0062) Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) South Pole Jupiter ENVELOPE(101.133,101.133,-66.117,-66.117) Saturn ENVELOPE(156.040,156.040,62.067,62.067) Nature Geoscience 8 7 523 526 |
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DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
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English |
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A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by the 2016 Juno mission. Energetic, small-scale storm-like features that originate from the water-cloud level or lower have been observed on each of the giant planets and attributed to moist convection, suggesting that these storms play a significant role in global heat transfer from the hot interior to space. Nevertheless, the creation and maintenance of Saturn’s polar vortices, and their presence or absence on the other giant planets, are not understood. Here we use simulations with a shallow-water model to show that storm generation, driven by moist convection, can create a strong polar cyclone throughout the depth of a planet’s troposphere. We find that the type of shallow polar flow that occurs on a giant planet can be described by the size ratio of small eddies to the planetary radius and the energy density of its atmosphere due to latent heating from moist convection. We suggest that the observed difference in these parameters between Saturn and Jupiter may preclude a Jovian polar cyclone. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM-0850639) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1032244) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1136480) United States. Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0062) |
author2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard |
spellingShingle |
O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
author_facet |
O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard |
author_sort |
O'Neill, Morgan E. |
title |
Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
title_short |
Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
title_full |
Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
title_fullStr |
Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
title_full_unstemmed |
Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
title_sort |
polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(101.133,101.133,-66.117,-66.117) ENVELOPE(156.040,156.040,62.067,62.067) |
geographic |
South Pole Jupiter Saturn |
geographic_facet |
South Pole Jupiter Saturn |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_source |
O'Neill |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2459 Nature Geoscience 1752-0894 1752-0908 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 O’Neill, Morgan E, Kerry A. Emanuel, and Glenn R. Flierl. “Polar Vortex Formation in Giant-Planet Atmospheres Due to Moist Convection.” Nature Geosci 8, no. 7 (June 15, 2015): 523–526. orcid:0000-0003-3589-5249 orcid:0000-0002-2066-2082 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2459 |
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Nature Geoscience |
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8 |
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7 |
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523 |
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526 |
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1768375429563940864 |